As discussed in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/085,801, entitled "Anti-Flashover Ring For A Bushing Insert" and assigned to the Assignee of the present application, which is incorporated herein by reference, there is a need to eliminate electrical arcing during disconnection of a live source of power. As discussed therein, an anti-flashover ring for an accessory product such as a bushing insert was developed to significantly reduce this risk.
Electrical accessory products such as bushing inserts, which are typically rated for 15 kV, 25 kV, or 35 kV, are all dimensionally sized according to ANSI/IEEE Standard 386. This standard defines the various dimensional and electrical operating aspects of the electrical accessory products so that products from different manufacturers may be interchangeable. Even with these standards, it will be appreciated that there are slight dimensional variations between accessory products from different manufacturers.
There are several ways in which the anti-flashover ring can be installed on a bushing insert. The easiest way to install the ring is to place it on the bushing insert before the bushing insert is installed on high voltage electrical equipment such as a transformer. However, it will be appreciated that there are many such bushing inserts and other related accessory products already installed in the field. In order to install the anti-flashover ring onto these installed bushing inserts and the like, safe operating practice requires that all downstream equipment be de-energized. Next, the bushing insert may be removed from the transformer and the anti-flashover ring is installed on the bushing insert by hand. The bushing insert is then reinstalled and the downstream equipment is re-energized. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, this is a very expensive and time-consuming process and one not favored by public utility companies. Alternatively, the anti-flashover ring could be installed without removing the bushing insert from the high voltage equipment, but this is considered a dangerous option and safety practices of public utilities generally prevent this option. In order to implement this option, an operator would be required to hand install the anti-flashover ring directly onto the connected bushing insert. Hand installation is also undesirable because the dimensional variations of the bushing inserts may require special care by the installer to ensure that the ring is uniformly and properly mounted to the bushing insert.
It is thus desired in the art to provide a tool which may be adaptable for operation or use by a "hot stick" or insulated operation tool. Furthermore, it is desired that the tool and its method for use ensure that the anti-flashover ring is properly installed onto the accessory product in an efficient and secure manner.